Buying Advice Need temp tractor purchase for now

[ceadmin]

Hello all,

We just purchased a house on 14 acres. The land is gentle to moderate sloping and mostly old pasture with a couple acres of scrub forest thrown in. We are short on cash at this time but we need some land work done sooner rather than later. Ultimate use for land will be turning into hobby farm.

Thought of getting an older, vintage tractor to help with the following before purchasing a bigger, better, newer model that will do all of our needs:
Current budget 2000-3000 for tractor
Current uses: grading/plowing 500 ft driveway, brush cutting pasture, tilling/discing garden and food plot.
Would like live or independent pto.

What recommendations might you have? Thank you.

Note: I have a craftsman lawn tractor for finish mowing around the house.

[Johndeere3720]

Hello all,

We just purchased a house on 14 acres. The land is gentle to moderate sloping and mostly old pasture with a couple acres of scrub forest thrown in. We are short on cash at this time but we need some land work done sooner rather than later. Ultimate use for land will be turning into hobby farm.

Thought of getting an older, vintage tractor to help with the following before purchasing a bigger, better, newer model that will do all of our needs:
Current budget 2000-3000 for tractor
Current uses: grading/plowing 500 ft driveway, brush cutting pasture, tilling/discing garden and food plot.
Would like live or independent pto.

What recommendations might you have? Thank you.

Note: I have a craftsman lawn tractor for finish mowing around the house.

to TBN! If I were you I would look into a used Yanmar tractor. I am a former Yanmar owner (only sold it to buy a skid steer) and have to say those little tractors will do a lot of work. I had a YM169D (16 hp 3 cylinder Diesel 4wd) and it did everything I asked it to do, from grading the driveway to mowing brush that was much higher than the hood. For what you have listed, you could do all of that with (for example) a YM1510, YM1610, YM1720, YM2210, YM2000 (gray market) YM336, YM226, YM240, YM186, YM187 (domestic models) etc. Yanmar makes a great tractor, their engines are still used in many smaller John deere tractors as well as numerous brands of construction equipment. Parts can be found @ HoyeTractor as well as a few other places. Watch your local craigslist, if the Yanmars are a bit high on price a good used Massey Ferguson 135/130 would defianatly get the job done, even an older Ford 8N/9N would get the job done.

[mjncad]

Welcome, and it would help if we knew where you're located to give you better recommendations.

[ceadmin]

Thanks for the yanmar recommendations. I would like a live pto if possible and i had thought of the ford 8n but i didnt think it had a live pto.

I am located in central iowa.

[flusher]

If you need a front end loader (FEL) on that tractor, your budget is pretty skinny. Otherwise, one of the older tractors shown in my avatar listing to the left might work none of which has an FEL. The Farmall Super A cost me $1300, the MF135 diesel $3600.

Good luck.

[Little Red Tractor]

Any of the older Oliver tractors (77, 88, series and newer) have very good live PTO features. The Allis Chalmers had a secondary clutch that disengaged the drive but let the PTO run starting with the WD series--maybe earlier. I did a lot with D-15 and D17 A/C tractors back in the early 70s. You did mention the iconic 8N Ford. If you can live without the live PTO, they are among the classic gentleman farmer tractors, my favorites being the old Farmall Cub or A.

[skylarkguy]

I don't think you would go terribly wrong with any of the the suggestions thus far. I have a Mitsubishi (first tractor) and more recently an a ford NAA. Both are doing what I have asked of them thus far. Both needed repairs before before being but back into service. (The ford isn't totally together yet either). Any older iron you get will likely need some fixes along the way so you may consider what friends/neighbors/relations have to both draw on the collective wisdom gained and for parts availability. Of course for collective wisdom of the people on this site is invaluable. Good luck.